The Maidens of Posiden
by DeusExManiac
Summary: An ancestor of Desmond Miles is forced to join an infamous swashbuckling pirate crew to help locate what could be Pieces of Eden. Along the way, they experience the misadventures and calamities the sea has to offer.
1. New Waters

The wind, so cold, and the ground, so hard, Gaia hibernates, causing the greenest of life to cease life itself. The snow covered the pastures of the frontier, making traveling a seasonal hardship. This was the case for a small group of British soldiers traveling on an iced trail in the woods. They carry rifles and barrels of gunpowder for their camp in the woods. As they walk, they talk big about themselves, how they are going to take down many Yankees as well as many Indians on the frontier. However, as they were hyping themselves up, a predator stalks them from the frozen trees, waiting for the right time to cut their conversation.

"I bet I can take down 2 Yankees with one shot" A young and boastful British soldier, pointing his rifle left and right with confidence.

"Then you bet on an empty promise." A comrade laughs at his claim

"I don't know, he did take a couple of those Mohawk savages in the mountain once" another solider backing up his claim

"You talk too big for a Rookie" he points at the young soldier "and you're to credulous." he points the same finger at the other soldier

"Whatever you say, but just so you know, I'll be prepared for the next threat-" he points his gun in front of him.

Out of nowhere the predator jumps down in front of the young soldier, viciously pushes aside his rifle and stabs his between his eyes. The body of the young soldier drops on the ground in front of the rest of the group. The remaining soldiers charges against this unknown threat, but the predator counterattacks every attack, dodging every swing and swipe of the bayonettes, and responds with a swing of his ax and swipe of his blade. It was only a few seconds later that all the soldiers were struck down, dead, and the snow around them was drenched with their own blood. The predator searches the remains of the soldiers until he comes across an envelope, stained with blood, with a wax seal. He pockets the letter and makes his way out of the wooded area. A few hundred paces later, he reaches the streets of Boston. He makes his away around other British soldiers until he walks to a small building. He opens the door and sees his client and Benjamin Franklin.

"I have the letter." he pulls out his pocket as he walks toward the counter

"Very good Connor. May I?" the client asks, calling the man by his name.

The man known as Connor points the letter in front of him and the client takes it from his hand. Not too long he notices the seal on the letter.

"Look, Benjamin." he points out to Benjamin "It's the Seal of the Realm"

Benjamin takes a second look at the wax seal to confirm the assumption

"Interesting" he comments.

Connor has a look of confusion, wondering if the seal they talk about is of importance. "Is that a good thing?" he asks

"It means this letter came from the Royal Family. It's probably intended for a high ranking officer in the British Army" Benjamin elaborates

"This definitely not what I intended to get, but I have it now so..." The clients grabs a small knife and cuts an opening in the envelope. He pulls out the letter and unfolds it to read its contents:

**Colonel Edward H. Becker,**

**The Royal Family has demanded an audience with you and the 4****th**** Brigade Battalion of Boston, Mass. for a briefing about a very important mission. Earlier this year, the Royal Navy has made a astonishing discovery. New information concerning an ancient relic that has gained the Royal Family's attention for the past 3 months has surfaced. More information will be disclosed at a meeting set in the 1****st**** of April, 1777 at the Bodleian Library at Oxford University. Please make a great effort in attending this briefing.**

**Allen Bathurst, 9th Earl Bathurst**

"An ancient relic?" the client restates, scratching is head.

"I wonder if it means the Pieces of Eden" Benjamin comments.

Connor face lits up at his assumption, wondering at the possibility of this ancient relic the letter speaks of is truly the Pieces of Eden.

"The Pieces of Eden. When is the briefing again?" Connor asks

The client looks at him in disbelief, thinking he would go all the way to England for this relic "1st of April. Don't get your hopes up. It's probably not what your looking for."

"You're right, but there's always that chance it might be. And if it is, then it will fall right into the hands of the Templars."

"How are you going to get there then? The waters are iced over; your ship won't withstand sailing through the thick glaciers."

"I will find a way."

A loud sound from a ship blows not to far from the docks. Connor runs outside and sees that there's a merchant ship near the shore boarding goods. He sees a passing merchant carrying a barrel of gunpowder making his way to the ship.

"Wait." Connor stops the merchant.

"Yeah?" ask the merchant

"Where are you heading to?"

"The UK. We're trading with some Chinese Merchants in England"

Connor takes a second look at the barrel of gunpowder

"I guess you will be doing more than just trading as well."

"Yeah, there's a lot of pirate activity where we're heading. Just being prepared."

"Thanks for the information"

"No problem."

The merchant walks off and Connor returns back inside the store and walks over to the counter.

"I will be needing the letter." Connor says

The client gives him a sturdy look and hands over the letter. "Guess you find a way after all" he responds

Connor pockets the letter once more and makes his way back outside toward the ship.

"Wait" Benjamin stops Connor "Here's a change of clothes."

Connor takes the bag and looks at Benjamin in confusion "What for?"

"You'll see, my friend."

"Thank you, then"

Connor continues to the door and exits the shop. He draws near the ship and he notices a small sigh that says **Non Merchants Prohibited**. He looks around for a solution, and locates an opening in the bottom of the ship where they're loading the goods. He sneaks his way past other merchants and other British soldiers until he squeezes into the opening. The merchants load their last cart into the storage area and begins boarding the ship. Not to long, the ship leaves dock and set sails to their destination.

Meanwhile, a land far in distance, harbors many threats to the voyage of the merchants. A place where all the scoundrels of the sea and swashbucklers drink among themselves silly and share captivating and over hyped stories of their voyages on 7 seas until sunrise. Tortuga. The hornpipes plays loud and throughout the largest mead hall on the Haitian island. Gallons upon gallons of mead and rum is engulfed within the hours passing, the pirates become more under influence and the harlots run around the hall to keep any desperate sailor company. Laughter fills the halls and small scale fight begins to break out throughout the pub. It was a good night indeed. But far in the corners of the mead hall, sits down pirates taking amongst themselves. They seem a little bit different from the other pirates in the pub, but still a little wasted like the rest of them. In the group of pirates is their captain. The hair on his head and beard was wavy and dirty. His hat was as black as ebony and his face was uneven and course. Along him was his pet Spider Monkey, who's dressed up like he's one of the men. The captain laughs along with the group and drink merrily every chance he gets. A sudden crew member rushes up to the captain in hopes for his attention.

"Captain Barbossa" the sailor says, interrupting the captain's drinking

"Yes, yes, what is it?" Barbossa respond

"I've got news about a merchant ship that just sailed from the Mainland" he wags his fists in joy

"What's that got to do with me sailor?" Barbossa asks angrily

"Well, we are in need to resupply. And since we have no money left, we can use the "5 Finger Discount"" the sailor answers

Barbossa changes his demeanor and gives him a look of concur.

"Makes sense." The captain jumps up and calls the attention of all his crewmen "Attention ya land lovers! We got news of a merchant ship sailing on the Atlantic, and sense we are in dire need of supplies, let's pay them a visit."

The crew cheers from the news and clash their glass of rum. Barbossa finishes his lash jug of rum and slams it on the table .

"We sail!" Barbossa makes his way out of the mead hall, and all his crew men follow him out.

Concurrently, the merchant ship finally make their way out of icy waters and into the deep regions of the Atlantic. Nightfall begins to cover the waters and the crew members, begin to turn in for the night. Connor, still in the bottom of the ship, is waiting for the right time to surface on the deck. After a few minutes, all walking on the deck ceased and Connor makes his way onto the deck. Still a little cold, Connor clinches his arm and looks around to find the door to their cabins. When he spots an opening he relieve his breath and walks toward the doorway. He looks around and sneaks his way inside to a walkway separating each quarter. Connor looks around for a spare room to sleep in for the night. Suddenly, He comes across and open door, and in the open door is a small bed, window, and no occupant. He takes a final look around and enters in the room. He gently closes the door, and turns in for the night. After a few hours of slumber, Dawn has broken the sky and light shines through the small window Connor was staying in . The beams of light hits his face and he wakes up from his sleep. He stretches his limbs and body, and makes his way out of the bed. As soon as he stands up, something enormous strikes the ship violently, causing Connor to lose his balance. He hears murmurs from other rooms and footsteps on the deck

"We're being attacked!"

"Load up the cannons!"

"Grab all the ammo you can!"

Connor hears many others panicking sailors as they are preparing for a naval battle. Connor looks out the window to know what the threat was. He saw a large, Royal Navy ship, beat up and stripped of its colors. It looked old and worn out, like it has been in many previous battles. He sees the occupants of the ship and notice how raggedy and dirty they appeared. Connor gave a softly startled look at the ship and came to a very logical conclusion.

"Pirates."


	2. The Pirate Encounter

Connor backs from the window and makes his way out the room. He opens a door and notices a merchant staring at him from down the hall. It was the same person that told him the information concerning the trip. He knew for that second that the merchant knows he is not part of this voyage.

"Hey you! You're not suppose to be here-" before the merchant could finish his sentence, Connor comes up behind him and puts him in a sleeper hold. The merchant squirms and writhes out the hold, but after a few seconds, he tires himself out and eventually passes out in Connors arms. Connor drags the unconscious merchant into a bathroom and closes the door. He runs toward the exit, and passes his room's entrance. He makes a sudden end to his pace and thinks about the problem he'll face if the other merchants would do if they figured out he's not of their kind.

"What about the other merchants? I am sure they will think I am a thief or something" He looks back into the room and sees the bag that Benjamin gave him before he departed from Boston.

"I wonder if this will be any help" He turns around and enters into his room and opens the bag and sees articles of clothing. He pulls them out and inspects each piece of clothing and notices that they're merchant wear.

"Thank you Benjamin." Connor whispers to himself. He places the clothes on the bed and closes the door to change into his disguise. Afterwards, he burst out of his room and quickly makes his way outside in his new attire. He pushes the door open and a burst of cannon smoke attacks his face; causing to obscure his vision of the battle. He fans away the smoke to attempt to regain sight, and sees many of the merchants distorted and scared. He sees the ship's deck imbued with ocean water. He looks for the captain and sees him at the wheel. Connor runs up to the captain and tires to see if he could dome something about this mess

"What is wrong captain?" he asks

"The crew is having a hard time hitting the pirate ship, and we're running out of cannon powder fast. At this rate, we won't be able to take down the pirates."

Connor takes a quick glace at the pirate ship and calculates the distance between this ship and theirs. He draws his attention back to the captain and pats his shoulder in reassurance.

"I will take the wheel. I can get close enough to the ship where we can use cannon fire"

The captain takes a quick second to take in consideration of his offer. He looks around and witnesses their current situation. Smoke everywhere, damage to the ship in several places, crew member still alarmed by the pirates. He doesn't want to give up his position, but at this rate, he has no choice. He slowly releases his hands off the wheel and give a dead look into Connor's eyes

"I don't normally do this, but you have a point." the captain sternly says

"You will not regret it, sir" Connor replies

The captain makes haste to the other crewmen to give further instructions. Connor quickly grab onto the wheel and begins to turn toward the pirate ship.

"Alright men! Prepare for cannon fire!" the captain orders the crewmen. As commanded, everyone grabs gunpowder, cannonballs, and cannons to prepare to fight back. Meanwhile, the pirate captain observe the sudden change in their atmosphere, and takes little note of their altercation.

"I be seein' a sudden, shift at th' target's atmosphere." Barbossa then notices that the ship is approaching at a faster rate towards them.

"They're gettin' brave! Well let's reward their 'bravery' with some more cannon fodder!"

With his stern command, the crew prepare for another round of cannon fire in responds to the merchants sudden change of heart. Back at the merchant ship, all the cannons are prepared and ready to launch.

"We're ready sir!" a crew mate exclaims

"Ready on my cue!" the captains responds

Everyone grabs the trigger for each cannon and wait for the signal to open fire on the pirates. Every seconds becomes increasingly agonizing for the crewmen as the draw nearer and nearer to the pirates. Each tighten their triggers and stayed on their highest attention for the signal. The pirates points their cannons at the merchants and wait for their cue to launch full blown on the opposing vessel. Captains on both keels look dead in their eyes, trying to anticipate the final move that will decide the battle. Not a moment later, the yells of both captains fill the sky to finally launch their attack

"FIRE!"

Cannons fodder completely dominates the air. Both ships withstand significant amount of damage from the one round of cannon fire. Soon after, another round was launched and made an even larger impact. Both ships are in serious conditions, make their final attempt to completely sabotage the opposing vessels. All cannons face each other for the final round of fodder before the winner is declared. Before the final blow, Connor notices that there's still a few barrels of gunpowder left on the pirate's ship.

"Captain! There is still some gunpowder left on the pirate ship." Connor explains to the captain

"And?" the captain responds

"If we can shoot the barrels, the whole end of the ship will explode."

The captain inspects the back of the ship to confirm Connor's deus ex machina; and with a sudden epiphany, he too sees the unwanted barrels lying on the deck. He turns back to Connor in a surprised look. Connor nods for the go ahead, and in responds, the captain yells out to a crewmen manning the cannon closest to the barrels to point his cannon toward the newfound target.

"Grant! Aim at the back of the ship!" the captain commands

The crewman turns his barrel to the quarter deck as instructed and waits for the signal. Connor then behests the rest of the crewmen to take cover for the final and hopefully fatal bow to the ship. "Take Cover!"

The pirates soon take notice of the merchants' actions and try to make sense of the situation.

"I wonder what's cookin' over there?" wonders Barbossa. He grabs his spyglass and stretches it to the only crew man standing. As soon as everyone hits the deck, the captain cues the fire for the cannon

"FIRE!"

The cannonball emits out of the cannon and hits square on the abandoned barrels, causing a large explosion and detonates the quarterdeck 'til kingdom come. All of the pirate crew is blown away from the aftershock, some close enough even fell overboard. The merchants recover from their hiding areas to see what was left of the 'formidable' pirate vessel. After seeing that the ship was virtually destroyed, the crewmen cheered for their seemingly impossible victory, On the other hand, the pirates turn on each other in disappointment, but none as angrier as Barbossa. A crewman sees that there's men who were thrown overboard from the shock and tries to notify the captain of this misgiving.

"Captain, there's men overboard" the mate complains

"Leave 'em!" Barbossa responds

"But sir they'll drown!"

"Then save 'em yerself!"

Barbossa grabs the mate's collar and belt and manually throws him overboard.

The merchants return to their normal stations and prepare the set sail back on course. Before leaving, Connor sees many of the pirates still in the water, and something inside of him makes him have a change in heart.

"Wait Captain, we can not leave them behind."

"What? Are you insane? They're the enemy." the captain sternly responds

"They will die."

The captain takes a quick look at the helpless enemy, and takes heed of Connor's concern. He gives Connor the same look before surrendering the wheel. After a few short moments, the captain turns his back toward Connor and walks away. Connor took it as a sign of untrusted agreement, and throws a rope ladder overboard. The pirates swim to the ladder and climb up one at a time. A few moments passed and all 4 climbed up into the ship. The last one to climb on board, was the last pirate who was thrown into the sea by Barbossa, takes the time to thank Connor for his kindness.

"Thank you, mate"

"You are welcome, but do NOT make me regret my decision" Connor adds

"Aye" the pirate responds, making his way to the quarters.

Connor takes one last look at what's left of the pirate vessel, and makes his back inside the quarters as well. The captain resets his course back to their destination and proceed their 71 day voyage to London. They all thought it was the end of their pirate escapades, but they fail to know that their worries have just begun, for there is one other Captain waiting to take a scratch at them, deep at the London's ports. A captain known for his death defying journeys as well as his thirst for the devil's nectar. A man of true legend; a man of true piracy.


	3. The Duo of the Black Pearl

It's midnight, in the outskirts of London, and everyone has turned in for the night, to make way for the night owls which roam the streets 'til dawn breaks the skies. Whether it's pirates, citizens of the town, or British soldiers, they all came to drink their worries away at the nearest pub. However, certain soldiers of the Royal Navy have other plans than to partake in the consumption of brandies and cognacs. Deep below the streets harbor this special force of men, sharing amongst themselves on what must be important enough to hide away from life.

"We need to discuss this relic business"

"I have a lead"

"Good, what do you have sergeant MacDuff?"

But their secret escapades are being secretly bombarded by two very persistent men. Men of the 7 seas. There they hide in plain sight from the soldiers in hopes of feeding from any information of their similar likings.

"Captain, they're starting to discuss about the relic"

"Ah yes, very good Gibbs."

The captain turns around and reveals his nearly drunken eyes upon his colleague.

"Sir, I know we need the information fer the treasure, but do we really have to hide in this here barrel?"

"Gibbs, when you want something badly, you'll go to great lengths to achieve it."

"SHH, you hear something?" a soldier whispers.

Knowing that the soldier picked up the voices of the unseen sources, the savvy captain quickly ends their brief conversation. He peeks in the peep

"You're just paranoid." MacDuff comments

"I suppose" The soldier takes a final glace at the barrel before rejoining his fellow soldiers at the table

Gibbs and the equally raggity captain exhales in a sign of relief, and redirects their attention to the most important man in the room, the one with the item that links to the treasure wanted by many desires. MacDuff places his hands inside his coat pocket and pulls out a nice sized rolled paper. Gibbs notices the sheet and tries to gain the best vision of its contents. He leans forward and pushes against the wooden walls of the barrel compromising the bind.

"Uh Gibbs...may I say that, the barrel can't take so much of you..." the captain comments

"but Captain look-" Gibbs responds

"The captain pushes Gibbs out of the way of the peephole and notices the paper. The soldiers slowly unravels the sheet and shows a guide around the deep waters of the 7 seas; which in tune leads to their prize

"A sea chart..." the captain's eyes grew wide in excitement, enticed by the soldier's founding.

"This sea chart can navigate us to the relic we're looking for."

"How did you obtain this?"

"A old man that owns his family Appraisal shop down by the sea shore."

"How did he give it to you so easily."

"I never said he gave it to me."

There was a long pause in the room. Each other soldier looked at each other and knew what he mean by his remark, even the unwanted guests remained in silence.

"We told you MacDuff to not harm the commonmen in our search."

"He wasn't harmed I assure you."

"Sure..." Gibbs quietly disagreeing

The soldiers continue their conversation, and as the conversation deepens the integrity of the barrel lessens and lessen with each crack born.

"I don't think the barrel can withstand us anymore sir." Gibbs comments

"Oh bugger..."

After being under intense human pressure , the barrel finally gave way and spills out the swashbuckling intruders. he soldiers stop their conversation immediately and turn their attention to the sudden reveal of their thieves.

"It's Jack Sparrow and his first mate!" a soldier exclaims their names

"That's Captain Ja-" before the captain can finish is declaration, the soldiers don't hesitate to position their fingers on their swords to take down the pirate king. The captain and his first mate is now surrounded by the fatal ends of several blades.

"What brings you here, Jack?" MacDuff questions the captain's ambitions

"To see if there's any rum left, of course." the captain playfully answers.

"Well, it appears you came in vain, shoot them."

In that instant, Jack and Gibbs grab the severed barrel and uses its remains to swing at the soldiers while they grab their swords to swing back if needed. They were able to take advantage of the enemies' brief moment of recess to start a blade-to-blade combat. Gibbs pulls the first swing and the soldier in response strikes a bash or two. Jack and Gibbs dodge and throw as many licks as they could. The captain grabs a rum bottle off of the table and smashes it over an unlucky Brit; realizing that the bottle was in fact empty. In the mist of his despair, the captain notifies Gibbs of a plan he came up with to take out MacDuff.

"Gibbs, charge a MacDuff with the severed barrel, mate!"

After the command, Jack and Gibbs began to charge at MacDuff at top speeds to retrieve the sea chart. All the other soldiers are dumbfounded, but MacDuff notices their intentions and grabs his firearm to aim at the charging threat. But MacDuff was sluggish enough in his movement that the pirate duo clashes him onto the wall and knocks him out instantly. The body of the unconscious sergeant plummets to the ground along with the sea chart, rolling away from his steadied hand. Everyone instantly begins shooting at the swashbucklers, hoping to hit their targets. But the the captain and first mate knocks the table on its side and makes haste behind the table. Simultaneously, the lantern bearing light for the soldiers crashes on the wooden floor and combusted into man-eating flames.

"FIRE!" a soldier exclaims

All the soldiers cease combat and tries to stomp the flames down. As they are trying to tame the flames, Gibbs notices the stray chart and the gun MacDuff was reaching out for from his coat lying on the floor.

"Jack, the sea chart." Gibbs tells his captain

"Well, go get it mate."

Gibbs takes a glance at the desperate soldiers for clearance. He opens his hand and stretches toward the worn out paper. He manages to crawl his index finger and thumb onto the edge of the paper and slide it back to him. As the fire grew bigger, it blinded the soldier's peripheral vision causing a great opening of escape for the captain and his first mate.

"Head for the exit, savvy!" the captain exclaims

And with that said, the 2 pirates makes their seemingly triumphed escape. They exit out the room and squeeze through the narrow hallways, surfacing from the grounds below and appearing out from the floor boards of the very tavern the meeting was adjourned. Several half drunken residences of the pub mingles and caused ruckus, barely noticing the new faces arising from the depth below. The chaos masked their unusual escapes and made their exits to the outside nothing more than a friendly goodbye. But before the captain and the first mate disappear into the night, the captain quickly grabs a bottle of rum and steals a drink from its contents along with the bottle itself. The 2 run into the nighttime streets, bumping into other wandering souls, making their way to the docks at the ocean.

" *HUFF *HUFF* that was rather close" Gibbs panting

"Aye, *HUFF* but at least we got what we came 'fer." the captain responds

"What now, Jack?"

"We wait 'til morning, and set sail on the seas."

As they were catching their breath, a small group of British soldiers patrolling the docks spots the 2 mangling pirates and set out for their arrests.

"Hey you!" a solider screams.

It startled the 2 and as quickly as they stopped, they make one last mad dash out of sight. As the soldiers chase after the pirates, the docks are being prepared for the arrival of a merchant ship from America expecting to make its arrival tomorrow morning after a long journey across the vast ocean. Meanwhile, the very ship prepares to hit land. All the merchants stayed past midnight carrying everything to the top deck for the morning exchange with their Oriental bargainers. Connor, now entrusted with the wheel, keep watched of their pirate "captives" to detect any thievery. He then switch his attention to the sea and ponders about the letter read many moons ago, and the truth behind its contents. in the thought, he grabs out the letter from his pockets and rereads the words to make sure its validity. He then thinks about the words of the store owner, and his doubts of the letter.

*"Don't get your hopes up. It's probably not what your looking for."*

Connor sighs over the thought if the possibility.

"( I hope I did not make this trip in vain)"

He closes the note and places it back inside of his pocket. Suddenly, the bells rung for bedtime and everyone on the deck begins to return to their chambers for a night's rest. Connor relinquishes the wheel to the winds and tides and joins the rest of the pack to their rooms to prepare themselves for tomorrow's unplanned dangers.

I'm sorry this took so long, and the chapter isn't that long! Just a lot of stuff been happening. Thanks for keeping interest in my story!


	4. The Pirate and the Assassin

After many moons and suns rocked by the bowels of the 7 seas, surviving storms, attacks, and shortages, the weary merchants finally land shore on the motherland. The ship draws near the docks and anchors itself to the bottom of the ocean floor. The occupants of the grueling 72 day journey makes their way off the ship and with supplies at hand. The pirate captives follows Connor off the ship with their own carts.

"Place them there" Connor directing the men to stack the goods.

As they prepare for bartering, a few paces in the 2 o'clock there lays the 2 pirates from the previous sitting cozy in the shadows resting their bodies from their nightly escapades. A sudden group or Oriental men appear from the other side of the docks making their way toward their "American" barterers; carrying the goods they intend to trade with them. Their barrels and bottles rattle and rub against each other, creating wild musical sounds that filled the air and disturbs the still atmosphere around the sound swashbucklers. In respond, they moan and groan, rising their bodies out of the English rubbish.

"Oi, what's with all the noise?" Jack waking from his slumber

"It a appears to be a trade occurring" Gibbs replies

"Hmmm..." Jack examine the Oriental merchants and notices a few interesting, and familiar features on the crew members from Asia. the tattoos and piercings resonates a certain vibe from the captain, a vibe he knows all too well.

"They look a bit familiar, mate. I wonder if..."

Before Jack can finish his sentence, the merchants already reached their traders and introduced themselves with their pocket knives and firearms. Before the New World traders and act, they were already surrounded by the so called merchants and was cornered by the sea below. Jack and Gibbs raised their bodies up to get a better view of the spectacle. The captain of the New World merchants look at Connor in confusion and tries to revoke an answer for their sudden rebellion.

"What's going on here?!" the captain exclaims

The Chinese captain laughs at his pointless bellow, then points his pistol square at the captain's head

"It seems that the weapons do not give him a hint." the Chinese captain gives a slight tilt to its crew mate to come behind the other captain. Not knowing what's going to happen next, the captain takes another glance at Connor to see if he may know. Connor just gives him the same look, but his look was a look of preparation, rather than bewilderment. Suddenly, the Oriental crew mate strikes the captain on the back of the head, knocking him unconscious.

"CAPTAIN!" the crew mates bellowed

"Bloody hell..." Gibbs whispers to himself

After seeing the captain body ceased of movement on the ground, Connor looks up to the Chinese man in determination. The crew man in return gives him a taunting smirk, showing his scurvy infested dentures.

"This is no longer a trade. Stay where you are, and you will not be hurt. And if you try to act brave..."

The Chinese captain gives his crew mate another cue toward someone, and this time it's Connor.

"This will happen."

The Chinese crew mate gives Connor one last smile before raising his gun over Connor's head. But before he was able to touch his head, Connor catches his arm midway in air and stabs his exposed chest with his hidden blade. The Oriental man soon falls dead in Connor's hand, and his firearm drops to the ground. The other Chinese crew members saw the act and begins to shoot at Connor. Connor then uses the dead body at his disposal and utilized it as a shield. He quickly stripped the body of its pocket knives from its pockets, tosses the body to the ground, and throws them at more Chinese crew men. In the process of killing those men, the crew members from both parties all crash together and begin to brawl. Jack and Gibbs sit back into the rubbish and enjoy the display of man versus man. Then it suddenly hit Jack, knowing they can be of use in their search.

"Oi Gibbs," Jack calling attention

"Aye, captain?"

"They can be of use to us to find the treasure, ey?"

"Perhaps"

"After their brawl, I'll try to persuade 'em. I'm sure they won't take long."

"How do ya even know they'll survive?"

"I don't."

The Chinese man have a stare off for a short moment, locking eyes, and declaring their one-on-one. They run toward each other and begin to lock blades. Each other tries to best one over the other, but it only made the battle lengthen. Almost all blade swings from the Chinese captain wasn't able to graze Connor's skin, and instead only graze the tip of its enemies' sword. As it progresses, Connor begins to appear he has the upper hand in the match. Connor empowers the Chinese captain, causing him to step back further and further. Out of despair, the captain makes a desperate move against Connor. to turn the tides in the battle. He suddenly grabs Connor's wrist and headbutts him, giving him a split second to grab his pistol from under his belt and point it toward Connor. Connor, recovering from the sudden head attack, tries to turn his attention to the captain, but suddenly hears a gunshot from the distance. Thinking it was from the captain, Connor looks up and was surprised that the gunshot was toward the captain rather than from. He sees a gun wound in the head along with a blank gaze on the face of the Oriental Captain. Connor turns around and sees a man with dreadlocks, a long coat, and a steaming pistol in his hand.

"That was quite a shot if I do say so myself." the man complimenting his shot

As he walks over to Connor, Connor begins to examine him from top to bottom.

"Who are you?" Connor asked as the man as he stands beside him.

"What, no thank you?"

"I never asked for your help"

"Let's not be harsh mate."

Jack places his arm around Connor's neck for reassurance. Connor gives him a cold and calculating look as the man himself looks at the dead body of the Chinese captain.

"You know these men?"

"Aye. They were under Sao Feng's command when he was alive. I ran into them a couple o' times out in the waters."

"So, they are pirates."

"Exactly."

"I see."

Connor moves the man's arm from around his neck

"I have yet to know your name."

"Well, allow me to fix that. I am THE Captain Jack Sparrow, pirate captain of the Black Pearl." Jack takes off his hat and gracefully bows to Connor "And over there is my first mate Joshamee Gibbs"

Jack points at Gibbs as he helps the merchant captain from off the ground.

"Aye." Gibbs note himself to Connor

"You seem to be in quite a predicament, savvy. With all these men trying to rob you of your prizes. I'll tell you what," Jack begins to walk around Connor nonchalantly "you give us a couple of your crate full of goods and we'll offer you and your crew protection. Seems fair don't you think?"

"I do not make deal with poachers" Connor firmly replies

"Poachers you say? We're just a couple of friendly seamen like yurselves."

"We are not alike. Unlike you, we do not steal, or reek havoc just for the sake of it."

Their was a brief pause, Jack trying to process Connor's statement, and offers a reply.

"Well, if that's how you feel then..." Jack replaces his hat back on his head and make his way back into town. "The offer still stands, mate. Gibbs, let's go."

"Aye captain" Gibbs separates from the merchant captain and walks in the direction Jack is heading to.

Connor reunites with the half beaten crew members and attends to the captain's side for aid.

"Captain, are you alright?" Connor asks

"Yes, I should be fine. Who were those 2 men?" the captain asks as he rubs the back of his damaged head.

"Just more pirates"

"Great. It was a mistake coming here. We'll return back to America in a couple of days"

Connor looks at the walkway to the small town and contemplates on their actual reason for the offer

"(I wonder if they are looking for the same artifacts?)"

Suddenly, a hoard of redcoats swarm into the docks. They look around an notice the bodies of the dead and bruised Chinesemen and the battered merchant crew. One of the soldiers out of the bunch, who seems to be of higher ranking, walks towards the captain while the rest tries to gather information of the crew members.

"What happened here?" the soldier asks swiftly

"There was a raid" the captain moans in pain "but it's over."

"What took you so long to get here?" Connor sternly asks the soldier

"Mind you place, boy."

Connor jerks at the soldier, ready to battle once more, but the captain stops him before he could do anything else

"Let it be, Connor. There's no reason for you to be here any longer. I'll submit a letter of complaint later, but for now, we need to tend to the injured men"

"Very well. Me and my men will round up the remaining pirates." the soldier takes a final stuck up glace at Connor and joins his men to arrest the injured pirates.

"Come on Conner."

"Right"

Connor, knowing that he needs to remain here in England to continue his search, thinks about how he is going to tell the captain without giving him the whole story. As he comes up with a plan to stay, he and the remaining men of the crew clean up the mess left behind from the melee and prepare to return home to the New World. Meanwhile, Jack and Gibbs stroll the streets with no general direction into going where.

"Well, what do we do now?" Gibbs asks

"We wait." Jack replies

"For what? He made it clear he wants no stock in us."

"Trust me mate, he'll come around." Jack reassuringly adds.


	5. Never say Never

After a long pirate-infested morning, the sun has finally set and the merchant crew prepares themselves for their long journey back home. However, one member sought out every reason to say in England.

"How exactly am I going to convince him?"

As he ponders for an answer, Connor searches around the ship for the captain's quarters to discuss his intentions. On his way he passes crew members, wishing them a good night and have small talk about this morning's event. After a few minutes of walking and mingling, he stumbles upon the foyer that leads to the captain's office. He steps toward the solid oak doors and softly bangs on its surface to call attention to the captain on the other side. Now even a few seconds later, a voice answers the knock with a firm tone.

"Come in"

Connor reaches for the bronze knob and turn it ever so slightly to the right. He makes a gentle push on the knob and the door opens up to reveal a battered and bandaged man behind a wooden desk. The man angles his eyes upward and sees Connor making his way inside the room. Soon after he realizes it was him, his eyes brightens up and his head turns upward.

"Connor! What bring you hear?" the captain asks upon Connor's entry.

"Sir, I need to talk to you about something."

Connor turns around and closes the door behind him. Meanwhile the Captain stand up out of his chair and walks around his desk.

"What's on your mind, son?"

"Well, it is about the trip. I-"

"Wait," the captain interrupts Connor with a stern retort "If it's about the profit, I'm afraid we won't be able to pay anybody with the amount we promised."

The captain steadily trek in front of his guest with his hands open in front of him to gesture a sense of regret.

"No sir. I am asking for a request." Connor rebuddles

"Really now? What is it?" the captain places his hand around his waist

"I, wish to stay in England."

A look of bafflement brushed upon the captain's countenance. He tenderly shakes his head back in forth, squinting his eyes at what he thinks in a crazy man.

"Why on Earth would you want to stay here after what happened this morning?"

Connor takes a few seconds to think about what he's about the say. He looks around the room avoiding eye contact until he can finally inform the captain of his lie he try to fabricate on his way here. Subsequently, he returns his eye contact to the captain and tells him his "answer"

"My lady friend is here."

Remaining complete eye contact, the captain moves his head to the side and reopens his eyes. He takes a few seconds to give Connor, remaining surprised

"Is that so lad?"

"Yes. We have been writing to each other for a few months now; talking about me moving back here and settling down someday."

"I see. And what does she go by?"

"...Amanda..." he takes a few more moments to end the lie with the first surname that comes into mind "Kenway..." Connor replies with a sound on uncertainty under his breath and regret in his eyes.

"Hm. I bet she's quite the looker if you want to stay here that bad."

"The fairest of them all."

The captain takes a final pause to make his decision. He rolls his eyes away from Connors and glances at the floor. He puffs out a breath of air and cocks his head toward Connor once more.

"You know, you've been a valued member on this boat, but...I guess I can let you go."

Connor eyes broadens out of shock and responds "Thank you sir" with amazement

"Any else you need from me?"

"No sir."

"Well, then. I guess we will say our final farewells in the morning. until then, I bid thee goodnight"

"Goodnight" Connor turns around and opens to door to the foyer. He steps out of the captain's office and closes the door behind him. He takes a moment of relief and paces his way back to his room.

"I guess I found one useful purpose for _his_ name" referring to the name he most despise, Kenway.

Moments later, he barges in his room, he deprive himself of his merchant disguise, and return to his original robes. After he straps on him final weapon, he sneaks out of his quarters and onto the deck. There, he makes his way off the ship and into the dark streets of London. He slides pass every man, lady, and solider that roams around the nighttime streets to find any leads to the artifact. Not too far, the 2 pirates from earlier also take the initiative to find any more pieces to the puzzle, while avoiding any others who are interested by hiding out.

"I can't really make out the contents of this chart...It's like I've never seen this part of the ocean" Gibbs states to Jack

"Hand it over mate" Jack kindly commands with his hand out toward Gibbs

Gibbs takes a glance at his hand and places the chart in his captain's hands

The dread-headed captain concentrates on the chart, turning it sideways, upside down, inward and outwards from him. He does anything to spark some sort of clue as to what this chart shows, but it serves him no good

"I'm not gettin' any ideas m'self." Jack turns to Gibbs "Maybe a couple of jugs of rum can help" Jack nudges to Gibbs

"Well, I guess a few glasses won't harm a soul"

With the idea still fresh on the mind, the captain and his first mate make their way to a nearby pub while still avoiding danger. After few minutes of searching for a good place, Gibbs finds a average size bar with strong candlelight illuminating from it's saloon style doors.

"Capt'n" Gibbs grabbing Jack's shoulder "That seems like a place"

Jack takes a look at the doors and sighs out of curiosity. Jack and Gibbs walk toward the doors and takes a quick peak inside. The places is filled with rowdy customers all the way to the back.

"Looks pretty safe." Jack comments.

Jack sticks his foot in the doorway and steadily pushes the doors with his body and slowly strolls inside the pub followed by Gibbs. They leisurely make their way to the bar and order their drinks.

"2 rums" Gibbs told the bartender

As the bartender tends to Gibbs, Jack nonchalantly looks around the place while waiting for the order to be made. As he waited, there was a sudden breeze that travels in the pub and catches Jack's attention. he looked over to where the breeze blew from and noticed 2 British Soldiers entering the pub.

"Bugger!" Jack silently reacting to the sudden trouble. He quickly jumps out of his spot, grabs his first mate by the yoke of his shirt and drags him behind the counter before the bartender can give him his order. The bartender looks around to find the missing customer, but quits his efforts with a shrug and returns to the sink not knowing that the customer was behind the counter along with his captain. The noise that Jack and Gibbs caused didn't alarmed the soldiers as much, but just enough for one to take a quick glace over his shoulder before sitting down with his partner.

"What's the-" Gibbs was interrupted by Jack's hushing. "What's the problem?" he reiterates with a quieter tone

"Our troubles followed us here."

"You mean, the soldiers?"

"Aye. It looks like we can't stay very long, mate."

"How are we gunna slip past 'em?"

Suddenly, footsteps makes their way toward the bar, alarming the 2 pirates into silence, and stopping after a few seconds.

"How can I help chya?" The bartender asks

"Yeah, I want a bottle of rum, 2 glasses." the soldier replies

As the The bartender grabs the 2 prefilled glasses of rum from Gibbs' order, as well as the bottle used, the soldier pulls out a large rolled up paper out of his coat pocket. When the bartender returned to the soldier, he notices that the solider is pointing the paper at him.

"Take it. It is a wanted poster"

The bartender sets the glasses and bottle down in front of the customer, and in exchange, takes the paper and unravels it to see the picture of the outlaws.

"Hang that up somewhere. If you find either one of those 2 men, there will be a ransom awarded." the soldier adds

The bartender nods at the soldier as he takes the glasses and bottle to his table. The bartender grabs hammer and nail from the bottom of the counter and nail the poster at the entrance of the bar. The noise of the hammer on the nail causes Gibbs to peep his head from below. The bartender finishes nailing the poster on, return the hammer to its original spot, and returns serving customers. Gibbs caught a good glimpse at the poster, revealing the 2 men were indeed himself and his dread-haired captain. He quickly shoots back down on the floor and told Jack "Those 2 men are of MacDuff's posse."

"We need to get outta here." Jack responds in rush.

Jack and Gibbs quickly begins to shuffle crawl from behind the counter, when unexpectedly Gibbs knocks over a glass, causing the bartender to look on the floor and notices the 2 men, locking eye contact. His demeanor changes as he looks back and forth at them, noticing the features of their faces and clothing, and realizing they are the same as the men from the poster. He makes haste toward them saying "Hey you-", but he was quickly hushed as he was pulled down by Jack and Gibbs on the floor, and knocked out. One of the half drunken customers, heavy set, looked over and notice the missing bartender.

"Uh, 'xcuse me

Suddenly Jack pops up with a half of his face covered with a dirty rag and garments shielded with an apron

"How can I be of service, savvy?" Jack responds

"Er..." the customer hesitates, but responds with "a refill."

"No problem." Jack takes his glass and smells the remains of the customer's drink to see what brand it was. His face shows a look of annoyance saying "savvy has bad taste in alcohol." He looks behind him to find the particular alcohol until Gibbs catches him in the corner of his eye.

"Captain, what now?" Gibbs whispers

"We'll wait until the soldiers leaves, then we'll sneak out the back way. Until then, I'll stand here and watch."

He grabs the whiskey bottle from off the shelf, opens it up, and takes a quick wisp, despite disliking it, before pouring some in the customer's glass.

Meanwhile outside, Connor continues to look around, pushing through the crowd of people, as he's increasing his search.

"I should go inside a couple of places. It might better my search"

He then notices the same illuminating light from a small pub not too far from him. He stares down the swinging saloon doors as drunk after drunk tumbling in and out of it.

(Maybe I'll find something there)

Connor slowly steps in to the pub, weaving around jolly wasted men , and searches for a good spot for eavesdropping. A few moments of searching, he notices a man heavily under the influence, swerving back and forth on the stool he planted himself in next to the red faced, heavy set man poisoned with the same toxins. Connor keeps a close eye on him, waiting for something to happen. Suddenly, the man finally tumbles over, with brandy in his hand, on the cold wooden ground, leaving the seat unoccupied. Seeing as the pub is completely booked, Connor takes advantage of the situation and claims the stool near the bar. Jack notices the new arrival, not knowing his identity

"What can I get chya, mate?" Jack asks with a slightly higher voice tone

"Water, please" he responds

Jack pauses for a second, registering the voice of the customer, then suddenly noticing it.

(It's that kid from the docks...)

"Uh, water?" Connor repeats himself

The captain snaps out of his trans and fills the clean glass with water from a battered barrel to give to Connor

"Enjoy"

"Thank you"

Jack swiftly turns around and tends to the alcohol after giving Connor his drink. Connor picks up the glass and notices the dreadlocks running down on the bartender's back. He stare for a few seconds until he takes a small sip of the water and shivers from it's unnatural flavors. He places the glass far from him and starts to look around the pub not acknowledging Jack.

(There has to be at least one conversation in here that can help) Connor thinks to himself

Connor closes his eyes and embraces the sounds around him. He takes deep, slow breaths while moving his ears back and forth picking up every babble, squeak, tap, and gulp in the place. He continues this for a few more seconds until a conversation between the 2 soldiers strikes his earlobes. The nature of the discussion is that of the squabble between their group of men and Jack and Gibbs not too long ago. He anchors his ears toward the men and begins to listen.

"Did you catch MacDuff's face after that raid last night? He was pissed off." a solider said

"He's not gonna stop until he finds Sparrow and his mate, a guarantee" the other one replies

"Who know how many more people he'll rough up before he gets his hands on that chart..."

(A chart? Sparrow and his mate? I wonder if he's referring to those 2 pirates the other morning?) Connor thinks to himself.

(Wait a minute) Connor finally figures out that the bartender is same man from the docks. He quickly looks over at Jack and tries to grab his attention; however, a voice overtakes both Connor's attention and hearing by a slight push and a loud drawn out "Hey!" Connor turns behind him and sees the drunk man, who fell over the chair, barely standing. Everyone in the pub, including the soldiers and Jack, drew their attention to Connor and the man's conversation.

"You're in my seat crony." the man stating to Connor

Connor takes a quick look at him and turns around and ignores him completely. The man grew furious of Connor's response and yells louder

"HEY! I SAID-"

"I do not want any trouble." Connor says interrupting his tantrum. "I saw you on the ground when I got this seat."

"Get out of my seat and you won't get no trouble!" he points to the stool, while slurring his words

The large man that sat next to the drunkard turns his attention to Connor with anger on his face, and slowly stands up close to him with his chest out and arms flexed. Connor stars down the man, waiting for a response.

"I suggest you give my friend his seat back, boy." the man sturdily says

The area remains quiet. One of the soldier tries to intervene, but was stopped by his partner by a touch of his hand on his wrist.

"Wait" the soldier says "I want to see where this goes first."

The other soldier slowly sits back down and waits for the command of his partner. Connor browses his eyes around the pub, noticing each and every stare. He takes another quick glace at the large man and steals a look of the drunkard, remaining silent the entire time.

Simultaneously, the rag off of Jack's face falls off, revealing his mug. Jack detects the missing rag, and tries to replace it before anyone notices. The soldier paying attention to the fight, looks beyond Connor and sees the Jack trying to refit the rag. Jack spots the soldier from across the room and pauses his movement, knowing that he's been found out.

"Get off...or we'll fight for it!" the drunkard states

The soldier alarmingly jumps out of his seat as soon as Connor responds with a calm, yet prepared tone to the alcoholic.

"Swing"

The man clutches the bottle of brandy in his hand and aims for Connor's head. Connor ducks under the man's arm and grabs his wrist. He pulls his body towards him, grabs his head, and slams it on the counter. The alcoholic falls instantly on the ground. Other men who witnessed the act tries their hands with Connor. Punches were thrown and counterattacks were landed as the small disagreement grew in an all out melee. The soldier loses sight of Jack in the midst of the brawl. Jack takes advantage and hides behind the counter. Connor naturally overpowers the crowd with his skills and reflexes, knocking out his opponents with no issue. The punches he dodges are accidentally given to people around him, causing the men to fight amongst themselves. Connor takes advantage of the situation and briskly crawls at the back of the bar to hide himself from anyone's vision. As the fight continues, Connor encounters Jack, Gibbs, and the unconscious bartender.

"We meet again mate." Jack breaking the ice

"What are you doing here?" Connor asks hastefully

"Me? What brings a boy scout like you in a roughed up place like this?" Jack replies with a smart Alec tone

"I do not need to explain myself to you."

A sudden glass flies overhead and crashes into the shelves.

"Uh, if it's not of any concern, we best be heading towards the exit." Gibbs bob his head at the door.

The trio silently crawls out from behind the bar, in single file, towards the foyer at the exit as the fight still goes on

The soldier finally gets aggravated from trying to search for his target in the bulk of the fight, and fires a shot in the air. The sudden gunshot caused all of the fighting to cease. Everyone begins to stare at the 2 redcoats while the solider holding the gun examines the crowd to look for Jack. After a few moments, he realizes that Jack was no longer to be seen.

"Where is he?" He says

The soldier and his partner run towards the bar and sees the bartender regains consciousnesses. The soldier grabs the man by the collar of his shirt to get answers.

"Have you seen the man with the dreads and his first mate?" the soldier asks

But before he could get a response from the bartender, the bartender passes out again in his other soldier looks around once more and notice someone else have yet to be seen

"Wait a sec" the soldier comments "The man in the hood...he gone as well.

"You're right...They could be working together. Hurry!"

The soldier drops him out of his hands, and runs toward the exit. His partner catches up behind him and follows him out of the pubThe soldiers went out the exit way and starts to search for him around the pub and beyond. Little did they know, the trio of men hid in the shrubs near the exit, missing them by footsteps. The steps ceases, and the three men arise from the vegetation with branches and leaves attached to their clothing.

"That was too close for comfort." Gibbs comments as he brushes off the shrubbery from his clothing

"Aye." Jack agrees

As the 2 men rub their clothes, Connors takes the time and turns his attention to Jack in seriousness

"Where is it?" Connor abruptly asks Jack

"Where's what, mate?" Jack replies

"The chart the soldier was talking about."

"What's it to yah?"

"I believe we are looking for same thing."

"And what if we are?" Jack slowly walks toward Connor until he's close enough to his face for Connor to smell the whiskey under his breath "It's like you told us, you wouldn't work with us pirates, savvy."

Connor let's out a breath of anger and grabs Jack's collar with one hand and a retracting blade in the other pointing at Jack's neck

"Do not think I will not slay you down right here, pirate." Connor sternly states

"I never did" Jack calmly replies followed by a click of a gun from Jack's hand aiming at Connor's abdominal "boy scout".

The 2 men stare at each other's eyes in patience and determination, waiting for the time to act. Seconds have ticked by and the atmosphere grew intense. Each waiting for the other to make their move. Gibbs finally takes the initiative and quickly squeezes his hands between the 2 men to diffuse the situation before things go out of hand.

"Wait!" Gibbs exclaims "There's no need fur this."

Connor and Jack slowly separate from each other by Gibbs' soft push, and lowering their weapons while still remaining eye contact. After they have established some distance. Gibbs looks at each one of them and continues to settle the heat down with talk.

"It's been a long couple of days, and the situation's gettin' the better of us. I'm not the one to break up a squabble, but we can benefit...from each other."

Gibbs pauses to look at Connor, trying to persuade him into joining him and Jack. Connor returns the glare at Gibbs

"Where are you getting at?" Connor asks

"I'm saying, the offer still stands." Gibbs referring to the offer made at the docks

Connor takes a glance at Jack and starts to walk toward him, passing Gibbs on the way. When Connor reaches face to face and regaining deadly eye contact with the captain, Jack opens up is hand towards Connor, waiting for a response.

"What will it be, mate?" Jack softly says to Connor

Connor takes a few moments to himself to think of his decision. Even if he told himself he would never join his crew, he understands that he has to swallow his pride for the better good. While still maintaining that eye contact, Connor and Jack firmly grabs each other's forearm, and sealing the deal with a Roman Handshake. Gibbs sighs out of relief in the back.

"Welcome to the crew." Jack responsively says while both releasing the handshake

"We meet at the docks at noon." Connor establishes

Connor takes a final look at the 2 men, realizing what he did, and disappears out of sight

"And you said he wasn't going to do it." Jack turning to Gibbs

"You pointed a gun at him!"

"He started it." Jack childishly responds

Gibbs sighs at Jack's rebuttal and responds with "Let's just hope he stays on our side."

"As soon as he knew of this treasure, he's always been on our side." Jack finally replies to Gibbs.

As the night comes to a close, the 2 redcoats from earlier gave up on their search and faces their commander to inform him of their misgivings.

"You let them slip right under you noses, and escape?" MacDuff questioning his soldiers

The soldiers stare at their leader with scared looks, knowing about MacDuff's determination to find the artifact, yet letting him down. MacDuff waits for an explanation, but he scared the soldiers too badly for them to answer right away. MacDuff finally loses his patience and breaks the silence in the room  
>"Answer me!"<p>

"There was a fight. He... escaped with a dark skinned man...with a hood, and his first mate. That's all we know..." the soldier answers

MacDuff sighs at the disappointment the soldiers have cause him. "The meeting for this artifact is tomorrow, gentleman."

He begins to walk around them until he plants himself between the 2 scared redcoats, resting one hand for one solider each, and squeezing their shoulder blades.

"How exactly, am I suppose to tell the QUEEN OF ENGLAND, that we lost the ONLY trace we had?!"

The soldiers remain in silence, only letting out small screams from reacting to the shooting pain on their shoulder blades. There's no real answer for them to say, for it will only make MacDuff angrier, and their shoulders unbearably more painful. MacDuff finally releases the soldiers of their grip and takes a moment to breath. The soldiers rub their blades to soothe its pain and waits for MacDuff to say his final words to them

"You to are to be continue your search until your legs fall off. Understood?!"

"Yes... Sergeant." the soldiers give their final salutes, and immediately dismiss themselves out of MacDuff's office. MacDuff immediately sits down and began to massage the temples of his head.

(That artifact must be found...by me...or no one else!)


	6. Getting Affiliated

After the long hours of nighttime, the sunlight welcomes in the beginning of the day. MacDuff, still in his quarters, prepares for the meeting taking place at the Bodlien Library in Oxford.

"Enter" MacDuff commands while rubbing his temples

A Watchman walks in with his rifle at the right shoulder position. He closes the door behind him and salutes upon facing MacDuff. He brings the rifle down to his feet and stand at attention.

"Did you need me, Sergeant?"

MacDuff grabs a stack of papers from his desk behind him and hold it in front of the corporal.

"I need you to carry the papers to the Bodlien Library. There was a raid at the docks, and the captain victimized submitted a complaint. I need to document his accounts, so I won't be able to carry the papers in time for the review of evidence."

"Understood. I will have these sent in for you."

MacDuff hands the papers to the corporal and finishes their exchange with a dismissal, "That'll be all"

The corporal gives his final salutes and exits the office.

MacDuff picks up his clipboard and flips paper after paper, licking his thumb as he overturns each page. As he quietly re-reviews the raiding case, he suddenly pauses his flipping and notices a word somewhere on the bottom of the page. The word sticks out a a sore thumb, for he had his sharing of dealing with them.

"Pirate..."

He returns to the front page, gather the necessities for the interview, and heads out his office with 4 soldiers waiting for him outside.

For the time being, the merchant ship is preparing for departure as they pack everything on the ship and build crates for more goods. Connor is among the individuals responsible for building the crates. The captain looks over the progress and instructs them accordingly. After some time have passed, the captain notices a carriage coming towards them . He realized it was the soldier he asked for and turned his attention to them.

"Finally."

Connor notices the carriage as well as they drew closer to the ship. He maintains a stern look while he works on a crate. The carriage finally arrives to the port, stopping in front of the captain. One of the soldiers steps off on the carriage and opens the door for MacDuff. MacDuff proceeds to exit the carriage and makes his way in front of the captain.

"Morning, gentlemen." The captain greets them

The conversation between the captain and MacDuff is a bit inaudible from where Connor is standing at, but Connor continues to prey is eyes on the 2 men, especially on MacDuff. While MacDuff uncaringly documents the captain's babbling about the raid, he spots a dark-skinned male from afar packing the materials into carts and covering the top of the carts up with lids. At first, it caught his eyes due to him sticking out amongst the crew members of lighter complexions, but then something else comes to mind. He slowly begins to remember what one of his soldiers said about the description of man that escaped with the dread headed captain and his first mate.

["There was a fight. He... escaped with a dark skinned man...with a hood, and his first mate. That's all we know..." the soldier answers]

(A dark skinned man)

He maintains a stern glance at him for a few moments, before making the decision of going over there to satisfy his curiosity.

"Do you mind if I were to ask some of your crew members?" MacDuff interrupting the merchant captain during his complaint.

"Uh, Sure, but it wouldn't make much of a difference. Their stories will be no different from mine"

"It will make a stronger case, if I documented more than 1 eye witness"

"Is that so?" the captain asks "Then by all means"

The captain ushers MacDuff towards the crew members. MacDuff gives a small nod as a sign of appreciation, then afterwards a glare of annoyance over his shoulder as he makes his way towards Connor. Connor, at the moment, is hammering in nails after nail to build carts for the supplies. As he is working, a shadow appears from behind, and is increasingly growing as he continues. He notices the shadow, and slows down his hammering. He starts to pay more attention to the shadow rather than the unfinished crate, and notices the shadow has halted.

"Excuse me"

A voice comes from behind, causing Connor to turn around and identifies him as the man that was documenting the complaint with the captain, with papers in his right hand and a look that reads across as a false gesture of friendliness. Connor examines his whole being for a few seconds, before deciding to turn back around and tend to the unfinished crate. MacDuff picks up on his intentional silence, and in response gave a stern demeanor. MacDuff then tries again to grab Connor's attention by non-verbal means, by placing his left hand on Connor's right shoulder, and slightly squeezing it.

"I guess you didn't hear me."

Connor remains silent and waits for MacDuff's follow up.

"I said, excu-"

"Tánon' ónhka ní:se'? (And who are you?)" Connor interrupts MacDuff mid sentence by using an unfamiliar language

MacDuff is thrown off by the surprising word, and stares at him in utter confusion, trying to register Connor's foreign speech

"Pardon me?"

" Iah tewake'nikonhraién:ta's (I do not understand). Onkwehonwehnéha satá:ti (Speak in Indian)."

Connor continues to toy with MacDuff by continuing to speak in the Kanien'kéha language. The confusion grows into frustration as MacDuff loses his patience with Connor.

"I know you can speak English! How else would you communicate with your crew members!?"

MacDuff immediately stops the nearest crew member passing by to help translate for him

He points to the crew member "You in the brown vest. Come quick." and cues him to come over. The member chosen happens to be one of the pirates that Connor spared during their run in with Barbossa. He stops in his tracks and hastefully makes his way towards MacDuff. He stops next to Connor, direct his attention at MacDuff, and waits for a response.

"This member of your crew speaks a different tongue. Why is that?"

At first the pirate was bewildered at MacDuff's claim, considering that he knows that Connor can speak English well, but he entertains the question anyways.

"Well, he's Indian, from the New Land. He uh..." the pirate quickly looks at Connor for a suggestion of what to say. Connor cautiously shakes his head to note not tell MacDuff he can speak English. "...can't speak no proper English." the pirate responds vigorously.

MacDuff's face deviously lits up at the information, and starts to make small eye contact with Connor.

"I see, so he's a New World savage."

At the sounds of that derogatory word , Connor's face immediately turns sour. That moment, MacDuff knew he triggered a switch in Connor's emotions, and with it in mind, he takes advantage of the situation.

"I should've known. Well since he can't speak proper English" (and neither can you for that matter) MacDuff referring to the pirate's way of speaking, "Then there's no point in conversing. Good day gentlemen."

MacDuff gave one final glance at Connor over his shoulder, and returns to the merchant captain.

Th pirates gazes at MacDuff in utter disgust. "Pompous bastard" the pirate responds to MacDuff's remarks. "I'm going back to work."

The pirates turns around immediately and continues to where he was initially going to go. Connor continues to glance at MacDuff as he makes his way back to the captain and hands him a rolled up stack of papers. Once the exchange is done, MacDuff and the other red coats gather back at the carriage. MacDuff orders one of his men to carry the report to the station for transferring, and the others to prepare the carriage. He climbs into the bunker of the carriage as his men climb around for preparation, while macDuff makes himself comfortable. He takes a moment to think about the Indian man at the docks, and silently confirms is beliefs.

"He must be one of them..."

The carriage is suddenly in motion, making the B-Line to the Oxford briefing, and out of plain sight. Connor continues to look at the carriage, and at that moment, he too confirms his assumptions

"He must be the one..." Connor iterates to himself, referring to the conversation of the red coats in the bar the other night

A few hours have passes and the crew mates have dwindled down to just Connor. The day draws near to the height of its hours, and with the time in mind, Connor prepares to cease work, as he finishes the remaining crate he worked on. He nails in the final piece and sets it aside to be used for shipping. He looks above at the sky and examines the position of the sun with his guarded eyes to determine the time of day.

"It is almost noon. I should be meeting up with pirates soon."

He looks around to locate any more crew members around the ship, so he can safely make his way into his quarters to change into his assassin robes. As he examines the premise of the ship, he hears a distant voice in the background. At first he thought it might be a crew member making his way back to the ship, but when he turned around, it was the dread headed pirate and his first mate instead. Connor's eyes turns into a gaze of concern, knowing if any of the crew members would find the 2 lingering around the ship, they would shoot them on the spot. Connor hastefully move towards Jack and Gibbs before anyone notices them

"Well, looks like you came in time, sav-" Jack says before he was abruptly interrupted

"What are you doing here?!"

"What do ya mean, mate. You told us at the dock by noon"

"Not at the merchant ship!"

"Connor?"

Connor is suddenly alarmed at the sound of a voice from the distance. It was loud enough for him to notice, but quiet enough for Jack and Gibbs to not. He picks up the voice immediately and assumes it was the captain's.

"Quick! Get behind the ship!" Connor immediately instruct Jack and Gibbs at the sound of the voice

"But why?"

"Just do it!"

"Connor?"

A presence appear behind Conner as he make sure Jack and Gibbs are well hidden from view. He turns around to confront the voice that called him, and it turned out to be the captain after all.

"Yes...Sir..." Connor tumbles on his words nervously.

"We're having lunch on the ship. Care to join?"

"No, I am not hungry"

"But you haven't eaten all morning."

"I am... just... not interested... in lunch right now."

The captain begins to notice Connor's awkwardness. He thinks for a moment to see why he's so unusual, then he notices the fused shadow of Jack and Gibbs accompanying Connor's. He looks back up from the ground to Connor and gives a vivacious smile.

"I see you have company."

Connor sighs at the remark, thinking that the captain discovered the company of the pirates.

"I can explain"

"Explain what? There's no need to be shy about your lover, son."

Connors reacts with a dazed look upon is face "I'm sorry?" he replied with a slight fluctuation.

"Don't be scared, Miss Amanda Kenway." the captain coyly says "I don't bite."

Connor is at a lost of words. He continues to give the expression as if he is a deer in the headlights. He wonders if the captain is just making fun, or does he really think that Jack and Gibbs is his fabricated mate.

"Why don't you introduce yourself?"

There was a split second of silence, but then, "Amanda" makes her debut and reveals herself to the anticipating captain.

"Oh yes, it is I, THE Amanda Kenway. The notorious beauty of Connor's affection."

The captain is thrown off by the robust and masculine voice of this so called "Amanda Kenway". Connor snaps back behind him and sees Jack pointing at Gibbs, who is the source of the voice. Gibbs shrugs at Connor and signals him to look back at the captain. Connor continues to look at the captain and plays along with Gibbs' rouse.

"Why don't you step out and let me take a look upon thee?" the captain responds in shock of "Amanda's voice".

"Oh I'm too shy of a gal. I'd rather stay here" Gibbs responds

"Um...Connor talks so fondly of you. He dames you the fairest of the all."

"And it is rightfully bestowed upon." Gibbs finishes off the sentence with a unattractive chuckle.

"Right..." the captain comments in a tone of disagreement. "Care you join us for lunch?"

"Oh I would love to, but we have prior engagements. Isn't that right my dear." Gibbs begins gently stroke Connor's mane with his hairy, sausage-like fingers to sell the idea the vibe a loving couple would have. The captain takes note of the meaty hands fondling with Connor's hair and bites his lower lip in horror.

"Interesting..." the captain scratches the back of his head. "Well I wouldn't want you change your plans"

"That would be quite unfortunate indeed." Gibbs responds

"Then Connor, I will see you when you get back. It's been a pleasure, miss"

"The pleasure is all mine~"

The captain turns away and starts to walk in the opposite direction. Connor lets out a quick sigh of relief, but suddenly the captain remembers one last thing to do. He quickly turns back around and reaches inside his coat pocket. Connor quickly tightens up again after seeing the captain turning around and turns his attention to the captain's hand. The captain pulls out a few rolled up papers and hands two of them to Connor. Connor takes and unrolls them to reveal itself as wanted posters for both Jack and Gibbs.

"The sergeant gave them to me before he left. If you seen these two men, report to a soldier as soon as possible" the captain firmly states

"Of course" Connor replies

"Miss... Amanda." he acknowledges "Amanda" one last time

The captain nods a farewell and turns around to walk away and relieves a quick burst of laughter as he covers his mouth to hide the noise. Connor face palms out of embarrassment and slowly sighs.

"That was a close one" Gibbs asks as if he has done nothing out of the ordinary.

Connor and Jack stare at Gibbs with slight bafflement. Although their initial threat is clear out of the way, a looming figure gazes upon them from above from the ship's sides, and quietly moves out of sights way once the pirates have taken their leave from the area.

Meanwhile, the meeting is going on at the Bodlien library at Oxford University. It seems the tension is a bit high, as MacDuff and a high ranking General go back and forth over what to do with the artifact. The Prime Minister, as well as the jury of other officers and a few people of high importance, closely listen to their bickering.

"Why on earth would you need an entire fleet of ships for this, thing you speak of?" argues the General.

"To cover our bases, for protection in case of a raid, and many reasons beyond that. This could be a very, VERY, powerful device that can be use in the favor of the crown. We cannot just turn out backs behind it if we a chance of finding it."

"I'm not risking an entire armada on a 'chance'. How can we know if this artifact are worth the trouble to send a whole fleet out in the sea? It's utter nonsense to waste resources on speculations."

"I assure you that this artifact is very much real"

"On what grounds?"

The officers in the jury seats began to whisper to each other, discussing the point the General brought up. MacDuff picks up on their side conversations, noticing that his favor is slowly depleting, and began to gather the papers from his desk and lifts them above his head

"These."

The attention was turned to MacDuff's papers.

"Reports of irregularities of sea waves. Me and my Oceanographer notices that the sea is showing a high surges of tidal forces. Surges that are not considered a natural phenomena. We strongly believe that these surges have a connection to the artifact, and that the water is somehow affected by the frequency it is giving out"

The attention seems to take favor of MacDuff once again. The tension loosens up at the sound of positive discussion. The General notices the shift of tone and tries to remedy it by stating another rebuttal.

"Are you listening to yourself? This sounds like something straight out of a science fiction novel. For all we know, he could have fathom it all."

"Oh?" MacDuff sarcastically replies "And how would you know, General." MacDuff strolls toward the General in a slow yet daunting pace. He reaches to the General's face and locks direct eye contact with him.

"When was the last time you even been on the waters? Or the last time you were on patrol?"

"Where are you getting at, MacDuff?" the general replies.

"You speak of me about wasting resources and time, yet I am the only one who seeks what could be a stamp on British rule, while you spend most of your time on the piss and gouging the food pantries."

The General's face lit up in a red hot rage. He quickly grabs MacDuff's collar and pulls him even closer to his face "YOU SON A - "

"ENOUGH!" The Prime Minister shouts. He stares down on both the General and MacDuff frustrated with their squabble. There is still silence in the room, no officers were whispering, no audience left their seats. They were all waiting for the next words to come out of the Prime Minister's mouth to relieve the room of its strained atmosphere.

"I have heard more than I need to. I have no patience for juvenile bantering. We will recess for 1 hour. General Lee, Sergeant MacDuff, try not to off each other before recess ends. "

Both General Lee and Captain MacDuff stares each other off as those around them release themselves of the tension and make their way out of the library, or mingling with each other while on break. MacDuff gives Lee a small, but sly, smirk and walks out along with the crowd. Lee continues to stare at MacDuff and squints his eyes followed by a quietly, gruffly, sigh.

For now, Jack and Gibbs patiently waits for Connor far from the merchant ship and out of sight of everyone else. As they linger around patiently, they see someone from a distance with white and blue robes. They notice him to be Connor, and they wave their hands to get his attention. After a few seconds of that, Connor immediately notices them and jogs in their direction. Jack and Gibbs continues to wait until Connor finally closes the distance to just inches. Connor walks along side Jack and Gibbs as they make their way further down the shoreline.

"So, why were you so...worried about us being at the merchant ship, mate?" Jack conversing with Connor "It's not like your crew mates didn't see us before"

"Because of this"

Connor reaches into his inside pocket and reveals the 2 posters given to him by the merchant captain.

"You have finally met MacDuff then?" Jack conversing with Connor

"Yes. He has wanted poster of you two littered all over the city. If the captain saw you, then he would have turned you two in immediately."

"Understood" Jack replied

"Do you still have the map?" Connor asks as he replaces the posters back into his inner robes.

"Yep, kept safe right here" Gibbs pats his battered messenger bag.

"Good, now we just need a ship. Where is the nearest place to purchase one?"

"No need to worry about that savvy, I am a captain after all. Gibbs." Jack instructs Gibbs to get something out of his messenger bag

"Aye" Gibbs responds and reaches into his bag and grabs a bottle with a tiny black ship rocking back and forth in a pool of ocean water. He carefully hands it to Connor and stress extreme caution of it's fragility. Connor takes it with both hands and examines the ship in the bottle in bewilderment

"What is this?"

"That my friend, is the Black Pearl"

Connor takes a moment of silence to sink in Jack's response, realizing that that this was the ship he's referring to. "As in your ship?!"

"Yep. I had a run in with an...old 'friend'. And long story short, he put my ship in...that" Jack quickly points at the bottle and immediately draws back his finger.

"How is this even possible?"

"I'm not entirely sure m'self, and I don't really know how to get it out either"

Connor proceeds to rub his face and neck in disbelief "I do not even know what to do with this."

"Don't worry mate, we'll get it out"

"How? You do not even know how it got in here in the first place!"

"I do." a sudden voice from the background responds

Connor, Jack, and Gibbs are alarmed by the unexpected guest. Connor gets into position of attack by grabbing his tomahawk as the figure draws closer. Jack and Gibbs follows by grabbing their guns.

"No need for that gentleman."

The figures step out of the shadows and into the sunlight in plain sight. It was a white male with pale, gray hair, and a slight hunch in his stance. Connor examines the man, but doesn't let down his guard despite his nonthreatening appearance.

"Who are you?" Connor demands the old man

"Just an old man passing by." the man gently responds with a smile.


End file.
